The absolute best Music Never Stopped ever, ever. Surreal and astounding. Can listen to it all day.

this and the next night in Milwaukee, just blows away the Red Rocks omg show... these Betty boards, where are they, they must be around & around. yeah Bobby's slide work is out there, but, man this second set and the next night in Milwaukee second set just blows the lid off '78 even the Chicago shows in Jan. and it was Cold Rain & Snow. this little tour should have been the box set imho. this was my first show but I didn't get in, sat in the fire door and listened while eating the Cold Rain & Snow. Milwaukee was my first (16th row center mindfuck!!) I believe Keith was playing a small electronic grand. zeeero out. 4 stars, need that board Betty

Try the Sounboard for Set Two!

This tour was short - 3 Chicago shows, Madison, Milwaukee and...Cedar Falls (where?). The last three have, since 2000, often been viewed as a run due to their release, in part, on Dick's Picks #18, even though the Chicago shows are about as good (it's essentially an early Road Trips release, but makes some poor choices). This date has more than half the show represented on the official release and has the hottest highlights of the three shows. It was a dropped-ball when DP18 didn't include all of this show since it has several highlights not circulating on SoundBoard. They played Madison a year later almost to the day. I'll bet lots of people from this show were blown away and drove over to Milwaukee the next night.

First Set. No warm-ups here, Cold Rain & Snow is nailed. The sets motors along until the stellar, best-of-78 Looks Like Rain. Loser is also one of the best with amazing interplay between Jer and Keith. It was a good year for Passenger and this is the best of the month. Why, oh why was this not on DP18 (instead of the one from two nights later)? The awesome Brown-Eyed Women has a bit of '72 in there, and though Keith gets stuck on glissandos in '78, Bobby is great here. Peggy-O has an astonishing solo and the set ends with a landmark Music Never Stopped. The arrangement is difficult to nail but here everybody is on the dime. I can't think of a better Keith/Donna MNS.

Second Set. The set starts average for '78. I wonder if a matrix would be better than the SBD/DP18 for Estimated. Note that Keith was supposedly touring with only a Baby Grand Electric in '78, but is playing something else here (unless it's a guest unlisted on DP18). I know he wasn't using synth but this sounds like a Clavinet (he used one in '73) and it's heavy in mix. It's the end-jam that gets you ready for an incredible Eyes of the World. The lyrics come after a 5 min jam and there are several individual, jawdrop peaks. The mother-jam is an astonishing ride. The energy carries into Playin' for 35 minutes of peak Dead. The drummers drop in for Drums but it's a Playin' with a brief Space sans Drums. It's really interlocked and the jam is another second set mother-jam; wandery but not incohesive . The Wheel is sluggish but peps a little for the rest of the cumulative 33 min of Playin'. The Johnny B. Goode is A+. Jer is shit-hot, Keith amazing and Bobby and Donna sing well. Leave 'em impressed.

1st Set:  A
2nd Set: B
Overall = 4 1/2 Stars

Highlights:
Cold Rain & Snow - opener nailed
Looks Like Rain - better even than 4/21
Loser - one of the best Jer/Keith interplays of '78
Passenger - shines even with pre-net AUD qual
Brown-Eyed Women - Like a hot '72
Peggy-O - always about the solo
Music Never Stopped - A+ version
Eyes of the World - Has several peaks
Playin' in the Band - a wandering version that actually goes places
Johnny B. Goode - maybe better than era-faves 6/8/77, 11/04/77, 12/30/79

SOURCES:
Apparently the SBD of the First Set doesn't circulate (and originally only part of the second was in Circ), which makes it frustrating that more from this show isn't on DP 18. So you have to fill the 1st Set gaps with this okay-sounding AUD. Second Set is a Betty Board.

The concert transformed me into a DeadHead for life. I survived the show and I still vividly remember it. Love the 70s Dead - especially 1972 and 1977 & 78. This was the best decade for Garcia fans. He sang well and his guitar improvisations were superb. Thank you Internet Archive for allowing us to download these Grateful, magical shows. Long live the Dead!

There's lots of surprises here, but this particular rendition of TMNS is disturbing with its relentless, titanic intensity. To my ears the raw sound of the recording simply adds to the spice, and you can hear the atmosphere lift off with the magic. They played this tune from lots of different angles over the years, but this has got to be one of the most searing, breathtaking. I probably would've had a heart attack or some sort of seizure had I been there in person. WOW! Cheers to survivors of this show. 5 stars for '78

The Music Never Stopped and the unique Playin' In The Band jam are excellent. Estimated>Eyes is good. Good Lovin' was excellent in '78.
Keith is a detriment at this point.
In deference to another review, I will concur that 12/31/81 Playin' was well played indeed.
(A minus for '78, B minus compared to all)
strictly based on show, as people are sharing

One of the greatest shows I've heard. Would totally buy this, even though I have this, which is a warm and lovely sounding tape.

This was my first show. I was spoiled early on. Freezing cold temps while waitied in line to get in. Didn't seem to slow the crowd down at all.The dead nearly ran me over as we watched them come to the venue in their Limos. Phil had his own and was several minutes behind the others. Jerry gave his signature wave to the crowd. Unforgettable moment for me. Show was smoking hot!! NO SMOKING IN THE BUILDING announced prior to the intro. Crowd cheered wildly. GA shows back then! I especially liked Passenger and Music Never Stopped from set one! Set two was just outstanding throughout. We did first set on the floor and were able to move right above the stage for set two. This show was hard to top. Dead were just on from note to note!! rockforddaveo

just listened to estimated. thats all you need to hear to know that these guys were ON. im gonna go out on a limb an say this could be the best estimated they ever performed. garcia's solos are perfection. i cant imagine being at this show, i envy all who were. you musta been flyin in the clouds on this night. music never stopped is EPIC. recording quality is pretty good for an AUD. there really should be two seperate ratings on the archive. One for audio quality and one for show/performance quality. would make it alot easier to pick out the shows that are really good. too many people come on here an give 1 star ratings to amazing shows because they think the AUD doesnt sound good enough. this AUD is definitely more than listenable. the reviewer below (Winsome_Holstein_Nebuula) sums it up perfectly. This show is why people came from so far. a glimpse at magic

This show is good, orgasmic good...i mean, wow man, it don't get any better then this. First set is a scorcher, Jerrys on fire! And this is the estimated I've been looking for, the Mack daddy of em, the first estimated I ever heard and I've been searching for years to catch this dragon! By far the best GD show I've heard (and if u disagree, please leave ur best show date cuz I'd love to find more smoking hot shows!)

excellent show, superior estimated

wow,what a show.i loved the whole show,from the beginning to the end.your right,that this is a hiddin treasure.thank you guys for a really great time.

....but im not sure i can understand comparing this show to a show from the early 80s. thats a whole different era of Dead even though it only seems like a few years. they sounded so different by that point with the addition of brent so i cant really see comparing "keith shows" to "brent shows". Parts of this show sound like somthing from 1973 almost. Cold rain and snow is by far my favorite dead opener and this version is great. the whole second set is pretty much perfect and i highly reccomend picking up a copy of dicks picks 18 for pretty much all of it in pristine SBD. the quality of this AUD isnt too bad. ive heard alot worse. still a great time capsule. peace

Jerry took great pleasure in bringing the crowd up and playing with 'em. This "Music Never Stopped" is a classic example of him and the audience getting off on each other.

Gosh there was so much flannel in the great big Madison room. Things got warmed up quickly though. This was about my fourth show ever and I was there with a girl who'd dumped me, wisely, a month or so before and I was in a loathesome pitiful space and then the lads dropped this beauty on me ( yup, it was just for me! ).

Took me ages to find this - bless you all Archivists! Got it a month or so ago before the Bad Things happened here - nailed a sweet SBD! Tee Hee!

Danced a lot and hummed real carefully next to the taper with the furrowed serious brows. No, it was not me who Yahoo'd with glee on this version, no, not this time.

There are flashes in this show, especially the Eyes, that perfectly capture the spirit of WHY so many, for so long, came so far, and gave so much, just to be there when this fleeting slippery magic wended it's way like hyper-love sex-god spirit jazm right down through centre and spooged the Good Stuff all over the schlpace!

At the end of nights like this, we stood transmazed in joy and feelings of splendour and prayed, "God, I LOVE this band!"

Its no wonder that Dick's Picks 18 took The Music Never Stopped, and the Estimated>Eyes>Playing>Wheel>Playing from this show and material from the two following shows 'cause it doesn't get any better than this in '78. More upbeat than the 7/8/78 Red Rocks show (which is excellent), the boys and especially Jerry are on fire. The best Music Never Stopped I've ever heard, amazing stuff. A star off for sound quality.

i love scouring around for great nugs i haven't heard and anticipated more than this offers up. while jerry plays a flurry of notes -- "why play one when five will do?" -- there doesn't seem to be 1/8th the amount of passion that was present on 1-22-78, some two weeks before.

for my 2cents, the 7-8-78 fob, that hasn't surfaced on archive yet, is the tops, the cats meow, for 78 estimateds. yes, this one here is solid, but not quite as sonorous. playin' is good, but lags in some spots. 12-31-81 is a far more creative beast, but this one begins working in that jazzy direction.

fun listen for audience recording fans though. well balanced, clear sound with some reverb.

I have to agree with BencTerry about the Estimated>Eyes from this show. Jerry is simply amazing! Effortlessly brilliant segue into Eyes....with a monster intro to Eyes. The notes he hits here are special to me. I've never heard an Eyes that compares to this one. And Jerry is way up front in the mix.

very good aud and solid show

Audience tape is not bad - show has some high points but there are some mechanical issues like a cut row jimmy... Est>Eyes is where they start crushing it... nice loop back into playin after that its cut

This happens to be one my favorite Estimated>Eyes ever, Jerry's attacks during Estimated are just cosmic, and the transition into Eyes is just seamless, great mellow groove during Eyes. Playin>Wheel>Playin contains some of Jerry's finest improv from '78, especially when the first leg of Playin dissolves into Jerry flying all over Wolf with just minimal backup from the rest of the band(mainly Phil chords). 2nd set is just a monster if you like flawless segues and lots of Jerry. COSMIC ESTIMATED!!

I must say that this show was fairly good on the whole. I found it when i was listening to "The Dead Zone" on WEQX one of my local radio stations. The only song i heard from the show was The Music Never Stopped. It happened to be the best version of the song i have ever heard. The solo is so energetic and amazing. Thank You Jerry.

this is good if you dont mind audience recordings, the aud is a little loud in some parts but not bad, theres not much echo anyway

Crisp Cold Rain (Madison, WI in February). A textbook Garcia solo in They Love Each Other, every note, to quote Weir, "just exactly perfect." But the real deal is Music Never Stopped. Simply stated: the power and the glory.